Water Under the Bridge
by jayanx
Summary: The trip home was supposed to the easy part, but what happens when complications arise and change everything?
1. Chapter 1

Rated for language and sexual situations (not yet this is just the beginning) if none of this is up your alley or your not of age proceed no further.

It would probably have stunned the man standing across from the young woman to know that, while he was expounding on the benefits of procedure A vs. procedure B and how things had been different in his day, she had been silently plotting his demise. One really couldn't blame her; he was, in fact, an insufferable prig. A snide, condescending bastard who, although he didn't know his head from his ass, and couldn't find his way out of a paper bag with directions, and a blinking neon exit sign, thought of himself as a regular fountain of knowledge, and that it was the duty of the younger medics to listen to his diatribes with something akin to worship. She had discovered, early on, that the easiest way to bring this whole charade to a painless close, was to just listen to him ramble on with a polite, and interested look in her eyes, all the while plotting new and interesting ways for the man to die.

Today Sakura was in no mood to cooperate. She had been called in early this morning to put the pieces of a young man's mangled leg back together, and her eyes felt dry and gritty, and a headache throbbed dully at the back of her skull. She needed more sleep than she had been getting, but with the hospital so low on staff she had been working shifts nearly around the clock, and it was beginning to take a toll on her mental and physical health. She thought longingly of her bed, remembering the texture of the smooth cotton sheets, the snuggly warmth of the blankets, and the soft comfort of her pillows. She almost sighed aloud as she pictured herself buried in that bed, room dark, warm and asleep. She felt her eyes begin to close, and she jerked herself awake with a snap. She looked at the man, the head medic of the facility she had been sent to, and checked to see if he had noticed her nodding off.

Lucky for her he hadn't, but then she thought, for him to notice her dozing off he would have had to notice anything or anyone outside of himself, and there would be ice skating in hell before that happened. He seemed to be coming to the end of his speech, and Sakura increased the speed, and frequency of her nods of assent to hurry him along. He finished, and she thanked him for his time with the most insincere smile and empty words she could muster, and walked back down the hall to collect her stuff and head home for the day.

In fact, she wasn't headed to her real home. Her real home, and her much longed for bed, were miles and miles away back in Konoha. No, Sakura was currently stuck on a mission, helping to fill shifts at a hospital in the middle of nowhere because Tsunade said it would be a good experience, and she was the best candidate for the job. Only two more days, and she was out of there. It had only been a month, but it felt like much, much longer. Sakura hoped that Tsunade was getting paid handsomely because this mission was only a step above torture. There were days Sakura would have gotten on her knees and begged for to the Akatsuki, or someone equally reprehensible show up and bring the whole place crashing down.

She spent a moment in happy reflection imagining the crazed bomber Deidara blowing the entire place to kingdom come while Itachi spent some quality time with the manager. She figured he was more than capable of concocting something fitting for him.

It had to be a bad sign when she was thinking longingly of S class criminals who were trying to kill one of her dearest friends. Too may days at the hospital from hell will do that to you thought, and she comforted herself with the thought that two more days and she was out of there are she punched out, and collected her stuff.

The walk back to her inn room was uneventful, and blessedly short. She took a moment to think about dinner, or a shower, but in the end she was just too exhausted to think about anything, but sleep. She stripped off her work clothes, changed into her pajamas, and fell into bed.

AN - I'd like to thank everyone who read this for me, and dealt with all my nail biting. A big hand goes out to Broken Matra, without her support and encouragment this story would have remained a thought in my head. I also would like to express my gratitude to everyone who read, and reviewed my first work. I am overwhelmed by your support, and it means a lot to me. So, in short, thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: (Whoops forgot this in the first chapter) Naruto is the property of it's creator, and all the people who publish and license, not me (go ahead rub it in) and I derive nothing but personal satisfaction from the writing of this story.

The remaining two days passed in a blur of broken bones, bloody cuts, and minor infections, and soon Sakura found herself standing outside the village gates finally headed back home. She could almost hear her bed calling to her from where she stood, and she nearly cried in relief. The last two days hadn't been any easier, and the head of the hospital had really outdone himself with his last lecture. Sakura practically had to bite through her tongue in order to stay quiet, and her smile had been more of a pained grimace than anything, but she was finally done and, the powers that be and Tsunade willing, she would never have to visit that place again. The man would remain an unpleasant memory, and a story to share with friends over drinks.

She stretched her arms above her head, pausing only long enough to give the village the old one finger salute, and then she finally began the trip home. It was a pleasant day, and, conditions permitting, she should be home and fast asleep, in less than a week. She enjoyed watching the way the sun dappled through the trees, and the sound the breeze as it moved through them. There must have been an underground river or some such thing as Sakura kept passing pools of water every so often.

They were too big to be classified as puddles, and much too small to be lakes. She spent a moment considering the latest one she happened across. The luddle, or plake, she hadn't decided which term she preferred, but was leaning towards plake, as it was more fun to say, was about 6 ft in diameter, and roughly circular. The water seemed clear, and less than a foot deep. It didn't contain any leafy debris, or algae build up. In fact, the more she looked at it, the more it reminded her of the previous pools of water she had stumbled upon. It didn't look man made, the edges were too rough, the shape to organic to be of an artificial design, but the water seemed almost too pure, too clean to be just sitting here in the middle of the woods. It should have at least had a twig or two, some leaves, any kind of debris to cloudy the water's surface.

It didn't seem dangerous though, and, as it hadn't done her any harm as of yet, she figured she would leave it be, but drink elsewhere. There might be nothing wrong with it, and the series of pools might just be from the rain. Sakura had been far too busy at the hospital to notice insignificant things like the weather, but she wasn't going to take any chances. "Better safe than sorry" she reminded herself, and she set of homewards.

The sun was high in the sky before she stopped, by the edge of another one of those strange pools, for a quick lunch. She hadn't really meant to stop by one, but this one was in a clearing, and it afforded her the best visibility she had yet to find, and she was beginning to grow tired and hungry. If it was going to try anything it would have to wait for her to finish eating. She'd be damned if she was going to fight on an empty stomach.

Her lunch was quickly consumed, but she found she enjoyed the simple pleasure of just sitting in the soft grass, letting the wind dry the sweat on her neck, and suns rays helping to ease the knots of tension that had been building steadily in her muscles over the past month. Without really meaning to, Sakura soon found herself nodding off.

She jerked awake, after an indeterminate amount of time, tense and anxious. She knew without a doubt that she was not alone. The back of her neck prickled, and she could almost feel the other person's presence like a weight. Whoever it was, this person was a ninja, and they were no lightweight either. She looked down to see that the mysterious plake was gone. She rubbed her eyes, and looked again.

The plake hadn't the courtesy to magically reappear, and now Sakura looked about the clearing frantically. No one jumped up and announced their presence, and just as Sakura was going to try to scan a little deeper to see where the presence was coming from a weight descended on her shoulder and she felt herself jerked back and colliding with a warm, solid form. She felt the weight, a hand; it took a moment for her addled mind to identify it, tighten it's grip on her and she felt a warm breath on her neck, and a hushed voice remark, "now what do we have here?"

AN: Wow I'm surprise I got this written, and up so fast. Yea me! pops shoulder out of joint patting herself on the back Thanks to everyone who has read this, and to those who have reviewed. I owe it all to my friends who pat me on the back and tell me I did a good job.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto (not even a cute little plushie or a keychain), and make no money, from the writing of this (or it would be goodbye retail hell).**

"Stupid" she chided herself. To be caught so easily she had to be about the most pathetic ninja on the planet. She had let down her guard, and look what happened. She had been taken completely unaware and captured by some unknown, and, most likely, hostile male. "Weak," she continued to berate herself "you stupid, weak, pathetic…"

Her internal conflict came to an abrupt end when the figure, who she had almost forgotten about, chose that moment to reintegrate himself into the situation. The fingers, clenched just shy of painfully, on her shoulder and she found herself being slowly turned to face the body. She clenched her eyes shut, as she felt herself being pushed around and slightly backwards. The movement stopped, and she felt the man's other hand come to rest on her unoccupied shoulder. She felt him lean in again, and in a low, rough voice he began to speak into her ear. "Open your eyes_ little flower_, pretending I'm not here isn't going to make me go away."

At his words Sakura's eyes snapped open. "I am not you _little flower_" she practically snarled, and she caught her first glimpse of the man.

She wouldn't deny the fact that she had been trying to avoid the reality of the situation by closing her eyes, but it hadn't been a very good plan, and that's why it hadn't lasted for more than a minute. She had just been so afraid of who, and what he might be that she couldn't bare to look at first. If she has been captured by one of the Akatsuki she would just save them the trouble, and died right then and there. She figured suicide would be kinder, and a whole lot less painful (in both the long and short term) than whatever those bastards could dream up.

She looked up at the man to see that there was no large belled hat, no black cloak with red clouds (which had always stuck her as a strangely pretty, almost girlish, choice for a uniform for a group of hardened criminals, what next sweet little ponies, or maybe cuddly bears with hearts on their tummies). She giggled at the though, and the man's eyes snapped to her own. They were an odd, almost yellow shade, and his hair was a pale, watery blue. He was dressed simple in a black tank top, pants, but it was the enormous sword that drove the breath from her lungs. She might not have ever seen the young man standing before her, but she would never forget that sword, or the man who carried it.

It had been one of their first missions together, the first time she had seen the full destructive power of her teacher, the first time she had truly feared for her own life and that of her friends, and the moment she had learned what it truly meant to be a ninja. The man who had wielded that sword was still a figure that loomed large in her memory, and seeing that sword brought all of her youthful fears and insecurities back in a rush. It was only the hands on her shoulders that kept her from slumping to her knees.

"What's got you so freaked _little flower_, it can't be that you've heard of me, can it? I don't believe we've had the pleasure."

"Where did you get _that_?" Sakura managed to rasp out.

"Get what?" He asked as if puzzled by her odd behavior.

"That _sword_" she spit out the words. "That sword belonged to the Demon Zabuza. We marked his grave with that sword years ago. What are you, some sort of grave robber? Do you get your kicks stealing from the dead?" Sakura's voice which had started off as a choked whisper broke into a full fledged sob as she finished. She stepped forward and he grabbed her wrists as she tried, however ineffectively, to beat at his chest.

**AN: It goes without saying that I thank everyone who has been kind enough to read and review this, including battenburg, MrsXJacobXBlack, and SpeedDemon315. Sorry another cliff hanger guys, but please stay with me. I promise, unlike some of my favorite fantasy authors, I won't make you wait five years between installments. Everyone thank Broken Mantra, for her superior editing, and fear quenching skills without which I would have dumped this chapter all together.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters, places, swords, techniques, or ****cuddly little animals ****contained therein. **

They stood for a moment; Sakura was leaned forward, head almost resting against his chest, fists raised, and wrists engulfed by his hands. He looked down at her as if stunned by the strength of her reaction, but this moment, like all things in life, soon passed.

Sakura took a step back trying to recover her composure. "_Perfect_" she sighed inwardly "_just perfect_." She would have thought that she had reached her stupidity limit for the day, but clearly she was mistaken. Not only had she been taken unaware by an unknown and possibly hostile grave robber, but she had to top it off by sobbing into his chest like a little girl.

He watched the storm of emotions rage across her face with a bemused expression. The corners of his mouth tilted up. He had loosened his grip on her wrists enough to allow her to move back a pace, but he didn't release her completely.

Sakura shook herself "_focus on the issue at hand_" she lectured herself. "_One thing at a time, and we'll make it through this in one piece_." Sakura tried to use the words to bolster her shaken ego. "_Time to take back control_" she thought, as she tried to step back to gain a little distance, and hopefully some much needed perspective, but her movement was halted by the subtle tension of his hands on her wrists. She frowned up at him, and he smiled at the gesture. The smile revealed teeth that would do a shark proud, and they gleamed like razors in the sunlight. "_Ok_" she thought "_let's_ _scrap that plan for now_."

It wasn't as if she couldn't break free at any time, but she felt it would be better not to escalate the situation. The squaloid boy was playing nice for now, so she figured she had no reason to make him mad.

"So," she remarked "you never answered my question."

"I didn't steal anything. I only took what was mine." the smile took on an almost feral glee.

Sakura shifted, a little nervous. She knew he wasn't an ordinary person from the get go, but the power oozing off of the boy, the gleam of those fangs (there really was no other word for them), and the heat of that smile, all combined to set her teeth on edge.

"What do you mean by that?" She questioned voice steady despite the electric buzz of her nerves.

"Exactly what I said princess, the sword was rightfully mine, so I took it."

Sakura gritted her teeth, and clenched her fists; as if sensing her agitation, the boy's impossibly big smile only grew wider and wilder. Sakura was busy counting to 10 in an attempt to control her rapidly fraying temper. It wasn't helping, and long about the time she was ready to really give him a piece of her mind, he dealt the final blow; he laughed a deep, rich, masculine sound, and Sakura's temper broke free. Just when she was ready to pound the boy and his infuriating smile into the soft, green grass he spoke.

"Down girl," he said "I'm just playing with you." Sakura's expression communicated the fact that she was in no mood to joke around, and he seemed to understand that fact, as he continued. "You met Zabazua, so you must have known he was one of the legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Sakura nodded. "Well, I was raised in Mist, and was training to be one of them. I had the distinct misfortune of being kidnapped by Orochimaru, and spent years as one of his little pet projects. When I was released, upon his untimely death, I set about to find and reclaim Zabuza's sword. It's tradition that the swords are passed down, and since little Haku got himself killed, who better to take it than me."

Sakura calmed down at the boys words, she understood the importance a sword like that could hold, and after spending years as Orochimaru's plaything, she could sympathize with his need for a big sharp object. She couldn't even begin to imagine the horror that the boy had been subjected to. Her mind couldn't comprehend what that sick, snake freak was capable of. She was still shivering at the thought when ideas begin mingling in her head. The word Orochimaru wandered around in her memories until it encountered another word, another memory, Sasuke. Sasuke had left her, had left their entire village behind in his quest to find Orochimaru.

"You know? But maybe you don't. Maybe there was more than one, maybe you've never, but maybe you do. Maybe I don't." Sakura babbled incoherently.

The boy's hands moved from her wrists to grasp the sputtering girl's shoulders, and he gave her a firm shake.

"What are you talking about?" He plied the girl, and then the boy's expression changed. It was like a light came on. He chuckled, and moved his hands from her shoulders to her chin. He turned her face from side to side and studied her face as if it were something he should have known. Like something he'd read about, but never seen for himself.

"I can't believe it. I mean, he's hardly talkative, but how many pink haired ninjas are there? Little Sakura Haruno, the former teammate of one Sasuke Uchiha."

**Style note: Thanks to suggestions from my beta, all thoughts (the internal monologue ****of our poor protagonist) will be noted with **_italics_**, as well as in text.**

**AN: Ok, so it's a little bit longer. Sorry about the wait, but I'd rather post something I'm proud of, than junk. Once again I'd like to thank my faithful readers and reviewers, and ****as always my beta Broken Mantra who is my hero for wading through all my nonsense, and always encouraging me. It's amazing how much people you've never met can do for you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do this to keep my mind off of other things, I don't make any money off of this, and I most definitely do not own Naruto. One look at my car would tell you that. Stupid shopping carts! **

At the boy's words Sakura's stomach plummeted downwards, and cowered behind her ankles. Her mind, overwhelmed, tried in vain to process the information. Karma, fate, destiny, luck, or whatever you chose to call the bitch, seemed to have it in for Sakura today. She wondered what could possibly happen next. Her mind filled with images of the Akatsuki, entering stage right, and announcing they were giving up demon hunting to form a chamber orchestra. They had just begun the opening notes of a Bach concerto when she finally snapped.

Overtired and overwrought, she began to laugh hysterically. The boy, in an act of charity, slapped her, and at the first touch of his skin against hers, Sakura's reflexes took charge. She decked him hard in the jaw. The blow was not one of her best, by far, but it still sent the unsuspecting boy reeling into a nearby tree.

The action brought her mind back online, and she watched the boy warily. "_Oh shit_, she _thought, so_ _much for keeping things friendly_." Just as she was about to enter a fighting stance, the boy stood, rubbing his jaw, and spoke.

"You're lucky I find you so amusing 'cause otherwise I'd have sliced your fucking arm off, and that would only have been the beginning of the fun Princess."

The look in his eyes left no doubt in Sakura's mind that he meant every word. She suddenly remembered the look in Gaara's face when, possessed by the demon, he had nearly killed her. She remembered the feel of the claws holding to the tree, the certain knowledge she was going to die and he would revel in it. The boy in front of her seemed just as overjoyed by the prospect of violence as Gaara had all those years ago.

"_Shit",_ she thought, "_shit, shit, and double shi_t_. Could things possibly get any worse?"_ Part of her mind occupied itself by running around in circles panicking, while other parts of her mind contemplated the boy's razor sharp teeth and wondered exactly how much damage he could inflict with them. The absurdly huge sword, she refused to even acknowledge. She knew exactly what that sword could do, and it didn't bear thinking on.

They stood there staring at each other, the boy arrogant and blood thirsty and the girl desperately trying to coax her mind into doing something, anything, in order to get out of this situation alive. He hadn't attacked yet, and that had to be a good sign. Maybe if she could keep him talking there was still a faint hope of making back to the village in one piece.

"So, you know my name, but I'm afraid I can't say the same of you." It was lame, but it was a start, and it would be nice to have something to refer to the boy as, other than 'the boy' or 'dear god those are some horrendous teeth.' "

"The name's Suigetsu."

"_What next",_ she thought, "_can't exactly follow up with nice to meet you, or any of the other usual polite conversational tactics?"_

"Been raining a lot?" She asked.

"_The weather, when all else fails, talk about the weather_," her mind gibbered.

The boy, Suigetsu, gave her a blank, puzzled look.

"I mean, I've been stuck in the hospital from hell for the past month, and I couldn't tell you a thing that happened outside. For all I know it could have rained the whole time, but 10 hour days, with no days off, are not conducive to studying weather patterns. The only thing I studied was the pillow at the end of the day, but I digress. I was just wondering if there had been a lot of rain because I kept passing these puddles, well they were exactly puddles, more like pools. I called them plakes since they were halfway between the size of a puddle and a lake. I debated calling them luddles, lake and puddle you know, but I decided that I like the sound of plake better. Anyway, I kept coming across them on my way here, and I wondered if you might know why." Ok, that settled it, Sakura was officially off her rocker, but she was desperate and grasping at straws. Her palms were sticky with sweat, and a cold chill raced down her spine. If blubbering like a fool would help, then, by the gods, she would blubber.

She had been trying hard not to look at the boy, his wretched teeth, or the cursed sword for the length of her pathetic little speech. She had focused her attention of the grass at her feet, trying to draw upon the mental reserves she needed to come up with a plan at ensure her limbs remained firmly attached. Things changed when she heard a noise, it was an odd noise, and she looked up abruptly at the sound. The boy was smiling, not the ravenous mockery of the gesture he had affected earlier, but a surprised one filled with genuine mirth. You couldn't call it a soft gesture; those teeth added an edge to every emotion that flickered over his face, but his eyes crinkled, and the odd noise filling the glen was his snorting laughter.

Sakura watched him like a mouse would watch a hungry cat who, instead of eating it, proceeded to entertain it with balloon animals and impressions. The rapid changes of mood were throwing her off balance, she didn't know what to expect, and she just wanted to go home. At the look in her eyes Suigetsu only laughed harder.

"Don't worry Princess, if I wanted you dead, you'd have been there a long time ago. Like I told you before, you amuse me. I've been traveling with Sasuke and his little party of freaks for so long it's nice to have a break."

Sakura looked up at this and chuckled.

"The whole sullen, brooding thing gets old fast doesn't it. Ino and I used to speculate about how he developed it, a few too many readings of Wuthering Heights, or did he use a mirror?"

Suigetsu's laughter grew until he had tears running down his face. When had composed himself enough so he could take a full breath he spoke.

"And here I thought you were such a devoted fan girl."

Sakura shrugged, "I was an obsessed loser, but the shine on that particular apple didn't take long to fade."

**Textual Notes: Just in case any one was wondering, **_decked_** is Maine slang for punched (usually hard). For more information please see Bob Marley (the comedienne not the singer), and his helpful bit on Maine slang.**

**AN: I would like to thank Lorack, and her help getting me out of yet another plot quandary. Without your help Sakura would still be there trying to come up with her conversational tactic. A big thank you to all my readers and reviewers, your patience and support is appreciated especially now more than ever than ever.  
**


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